Why did YouTube unlist all of its past YouTube Rewind videos?

YouTube Rewind may have ended back in 2019, but it seems like YouTube has finally put the nail in the coffin by just unlisting every single one of its annual recap videos.

On Tuesday evening, YouTube users in the r/YouTube community on Reddit noticed something odd. YouTube's official channel had marked every single one of its previous YouTube Rewind videos as "unlisted." This basically means that unless you have the actual link to the specific video, the YouTube Rewind videos are now much harder to find on the YouTube platform. They do not show up on the channel page or in YouTube search results, though we did find a user playlist with links to all of the Rewind videos.

Why did YouTube do this? It's unclear, especially given that it's been six years since the last YouTube Rewind. However, YouTube creators have been speculating about the change. 

Spotify reinvented the yearly recap with Spotify Wrapped, which gives each individual user a highly personalized look back at their year on the app. Other apps, like YouTube, have since followed that path and provide users with their own personal year-in-review.

However, way back in 2011, YouTube arguably started the whole social media recap trend with its annual series of highly-produced annual recap videos called YouTube Rewind. The last YouTube Rewind video was in 2019, with the company opting not to make one in 2020. 

From 2011 to 2018, YouTube Rewind videos looked back at the biggest memes, videos, creators, and anything else that defined YouTuber culture that year. The company produced original content for these videos with breakout YouTube stars celebrating the year in YouTube. 

While the videos were popular for a time, the 2018 edition of YouTube Rewind became the most disliked video on the platform at the time after blowback from YouTube users. Many popular and somewhat controversial YouTube creators were not included in the recap, which included more mainstream YouTube stars. 

The company dropped its long-running format in 2019, instead creating a countdown montage of the year's top moments, before dropping YouTube Rewind completely.

In response to a question from Mashable, a YouTube spokesperson provided the following statement regarding the company unlisting its YouTube Rewind videos.

"As our 20th birthday year comes to a close, we've decided to blow out our Rewind candles," YouTube said. "It was a great tradition, but we have new ways to close out the year in style."

But there's also speculation online regarding the timing of YouTube's change.

Former YouTuber turned Twitch streamer Ryan ‘NigaHiga’ Higa recently shared on a stream that YouTube had previously "lied" to him regarding his involvement in a YouTube Rewind video he took part in. He was originally asked to dance in a YouTube Rewind video, which he turned down. YouTube still brought Higa in to film other segments, but then, according to Higa, the company tried to pressure him into performing the dance once he was on set. Higa says he walked out on the shoot at the time. Higa last posted on YouTube in 2020, leaving behind his more than 20.8 million subscribers to stream daily on Twitch to his 860,000 followers.

UPDATE: Dec. 10, 2025, 4:31 p.m. EST This article has been updated with a statement from YouTube.